Hm. I find that I'm spending a lot less money on meat then I was on other stuff.

I go to the grocery store once a week, and whatever meat is on sale, I stock up. I did that for about 3 weeks, and now I haven't had to buy meat in a couple weeks. I buy slightly larger quantites. The pick 'n save by me usually has single-serving filets in 3-6 packs, or ground beef for cheap. I just buy a lot of it at once, and spend quite a bit at once, but then don't need to go back!

ummm, costco brings really good quality meats so if you don't want to sacrifice quality, then that's my #1 choice. And if you buy it in bulk, you can freeze what you're not using right away...or like buy a bunch of chicken, poach it all, slice or cube it, then freeze it back up until you're ready to use it for chicken salad, soup, etc.

Plus, I'm going to advocate the product line i work for: Coleman Natural/Coleman Organic, and Hans' All Natural chicken sausages. They're all low-carb, no sugar, gluten free, yadda yadda yadda. Really good for our diets and a great price, and all available at Costco.

Honestly, if you can afford a large chunk of money up front, go in on a half a cow or pig with someone. You get a ton of meat, cut, wrapped and packaged the way you want it, in how much of each kind of cut you want, far much less per pound than buying at the store. Tastes better too, IMHO.

__________________Andrea

You know the laws of dieting. All gains are water weight. All losses are of fat! --SoHappy

Honestly, if you can afford a large chunk of money up front, go in on a half a cow or pig with someone. You get a ton of meat, cut, wrapped and packaged the way you want it, in how much of each kind of cut you want, far much less per pound than buying at the store. Tastes better too, IMHO.

ummm, costco brings really good quality meats so if you don't want to sacrifice quality, then that's my #1 choice. And if you buy it in bulk, you can freeze what you're not using right away...or like buy a bunch of chicken, poach it all, slice or cube it, then freeze it back up until you're ready to use it for chicken salad, soup, etc.

Plus, I'm going to advocate the product line i work for: Coleman Natural/Coleman Organic, and Hans' All Natural chicken sausages. They're all low-carb, no sugar, gluten free, yadda yadda yadda. Really good for our diets and a great price, and all available at Costco.

GIRLfriend! I the Coleman's chicken meatballs - both the Chipotle Cheddar ones and most especially the Italian Parmesan ones! GOOD products and not full of crap. You lucky dawg I bet YOUR freezer is full of those good things!

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It's easy to be miserable. Being happy takes more work. ~~from Ondine, the movie~~

Whole chicken in the bag. I like to cook it whole in the skin, which keeps it moist. Cheapest way to buy chicken if you like all of the bird.

Go to a real butcher, or at least a real meatcutter, not the grocery store. You can get a whole ribeye cut up usually for at least $1 a pound less, sometimes a lot more. I get them cut at about 1/2 inch thick, so they will thaw fast and I have a reasonable (8 oz or so) meal sized portion. I go back and get the big ones for special events. I get the thin ribeyes individually wrapped and freeze them, so I always have something on hand.

You can find pork loins on sale and cut them yourself. Porkchops are usually reasonably priced in bulk.

Beef Brisket isn't always cheap, but there is certainly a lot of it to enjoy.

Some stores have two for one specials that can be good.

There's a butcher in my area that has several grades of beef, including select. A select whole ribeye can be pretty cheap, yet, if the guy knows how to select his beef, just as good as choice, which they mostly call Angus these days.

Fresh Market has grass fed Ribeyes at a much lower price than their grain fed. Taste's pretty good to me.

I'm helping them come out with newer flavors too, it's my favorite part of the job!

And yes, my freezer is packed with samples of everything. You live in CA right? Which Costco is the closest to you? I'll make sure we run a roadshow close to you if I can. It'll give you the opportunity to try things that Costco doesn't normally carry.

Also Smart & Final has some REALLY good buys on meat - watch their ads. Their "everyday price" on a whole brisket is usually $1.79 a pound - cheaper than hamburger! I grind up about half of it and pack in 1 pound packs, freeze; the rest of the brisket either gets smoked when DH has the smoker running, or cooked low and slow in the crockpot.

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It's easy to be miserable. Being happy takes more work. ~~from Ondine, the movie~~

I'm helping them come out with newer flavors too, it's my favorite part of the job!

And yes, my freezer is packed with samples of everything. You live in CA right? Which Costco is the closest to you? I'll make sure we run a roadshow close to you if I can. It'll give you the opportunity to try things that Costco doesn't normally carry.

I haven't seen that flavor yet!!

I'm near the Sand City Costco - oh yes PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come and visit here! Do YOU come to the roadshows? We'll meet up!!

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It's easy to be miserable. Being happy takes more work. ~~from Ondine, the movie~~

I posted this on another thread - one of the Safeways nearby had SO MANY good things in the 50% Off section one day, that by the time I got done shopping (only sale items) the checker had to call the manager to come override the computer - it didn't like it because I had saved 58% overall!

I got 2 big packs of chicken thighs at 50% off, 4 flank steaks 50% off, and they had their whole turkey breasts (frozen) at .99 a pound instead of the customer two-sumthin. They didn't make much on ME that day!!

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It's easy to be miserable. Being happy takes more work. ~~from Ondine, the movie~~

Char....I'm establishing my NorCal roadshow team within the coming weeks, so i'll make sure we are centralized in SJ. Last year we did more of the north bay but it's good to get to you health nuts in the central coast area too!

I usually train the teams at their first couple of events. I will DEFINITELY let you know if I can finagle this. Yayyyy, that would be fun.

Do you like the Hans' All Natural Chicken Sausages? They will have Spinach Fontina & Roasted Garlic, and Sun Dried Tomato, Basil & Provolone all through '09.

Char....I'm establishing my NorCal roadshow team within the coming weeks, so i'll make sure we are centralized in SJ. Last year we did more of the north bay but it's good to get to you health nuts in the central coast area too!

I usually train the teams at their first couple of events. I will DEFINITELY let you know if I can finagle this. Yayyyy, that would be fun.

Do you like the Hans' All Natural Chicken Sausages? They will have Spinach Fontina & Roasted Garlic, and Sun Dried Tomato, Basil & Provolone all through '09.

OH, I hope you can get down here! It's about an hour south of San Jose. Not that far, right?

I haven't tried those sausages yet. I've picked the packages up and fondled them a couple times but not bought them! LOL! We aren't HUGE fans of the sausages but they look so good - so yeah, come down, sample them, and convince me!

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It's easy to be miserable. Being happy takes more work. ~~from Ondine, the movie~~